History of Art and Art Therapy

Art history studies the creative line of artworks and artists. The basic premise that underlies it is that movements of art have been influenced by their surroundings- in a social, political, and skills level. Thus, each artwork is not seen alone as a unique creation, yet it is placed in a framework of place and time that allows for its better understanding.
The same premise can be applied to art therapy as well. The creations of the patient/ client, if seen as a whole, can provide with a lot more information than if approached as unique and separate.
From the beginning of therapy with a person, the therapist could maintain a folder containing all the creations of that specific person within the sphere of the treatment. In this manner, the changes experienced by the individuals will be made obvious and clearer to the therapist.
This is not only for the sake of the therapist; the person himself/ herself can revisit steps of the process and even analyze retrospectively the experience of a certain moment depicted in a creation. The therapist may even urge this 'looking back' every few months and challenge the person to engage in thinking about his/ her process and progress.
Moreover, the change in skill can be observed through the collection of the creations of a person, something which will in turn lead to increased levels of self- esteem. Usually most have abandoned every effort to practically engage with art in a relatively early age thus any skill they may have had becomes dormant. But as they move on with therapy and create more and more things (paintings, crafts, stories) they become increasingly better.
Finally, as therapy proceeds, the person may learn new things about art, its history and even become interested in learning more. This knowledge will influence his/ her creations because some details, such as the style or colours used, will become more meaningful to the person, and could even be utilized in order to express something specific.
Despite the possible lack of skill, or artistic inspiration, the patient/ client could be seen through the lens of art history, compared to an actual artist (of a different level) as an effort to gain a more holistic understanding of the personality and the experiences.